Stair traveling bary carriage



y 1950 c. BOLTSON 2,506,292

STAIR TRAVELING BABY CARRIAGE Filed Nov. 1, 1948 2 Sheets-Sheet l 6942155 fiazrsm INVENTOR.

i Wei/E) May 2, 1950 c. BOLTSAON STAIR TRAVELING BABY CARRIAGE 2 Sheets-sheaf 2 Filed Nov. 1, 1948 I N V EN TOR.

Patented May 2, 1950 UNI'TED STATES PATENT OFFICE TRAflELIiZZZBY F CARRIAGE cllalilesBoltson, BrooklyinN. Y., assignor of one-halfto iDavid Willett, "Brooklyn, "N. Y.

.AppllcationiNoyember 1, 1.948,. Serial No.15? .68%!

"7 Claims.

TEhe. present inventionrelates taibaby carriages and the like.

Theprincipalobiectoi this invention is to provide. .novel and improved means one. baby .car-

riager to- .facilitate bringing the. carriage no and downstairs.

.Another object hereof is .to provide .a baby .oarriage. with. novel and improved meansv having anew mode of. operation to accomplish the stated functions, which is easy to us.e.,..reason,ably

cheap to manufacture built-in or iasan attachment, and which is. efficient in carrying. out the purposes .for which it. issdesigned.

.Othenobieets. and advantages will. become apparentas this disclosure. proceeds.

.In the accompanying. drawings forming. part oi this specification, similar characters of refverence indicate. corresponding gparts in .all the views.

Fig.1 is aside view his bahycarriage provided with a means of. the character mentioned .embodying the teachin s of invention. Said means may be called a carriage lifting. .and. low- .eringdevice. view shows. the said device in p s tion where the carriage is ready to be brought Fig, 6. is a fragmentary perspective view of a part of said modified device shown in. Figs. 4

and 5.. In thedrawings, Figs. 1' .and..2,, the numeral l5 enerally designates a baby carriage. having .a

handle l5. and a body 11;. mounted. one. framework denoted. generally by the numeral l8; The

front wheelland' the rear wheel. nearest the; ob-

s rver, are omitted from-the. drawin s vfor the sake. of clarity of illustrations The. other tront wheel is. I9 and the. other rear wheel. is designated by the numeral 20;. thehandle-end of the ,Qarriage being termed its. rear end.

. At atleast one side of the carriage, andit desired, at each. side thereof,. there isa lever. 21, pivo ally mounted at 21 as a fiilcrum therefor .91 the trams. L8, fulcrum is. .preterably a ve and. rearwardly of. the rear axle 23. The

'2 or both sides thereof, as constructionmay require, a. bracket. .24, through which is slidably mounted a bar .15... Where there are .two such bars, as in the embodiment illustrated, they may be .part of .a. U-iorm, where .part 26- may be .termed the operating handle. The .lower end of bar .25 and the .iorward end. of lever .21., are ,pivotall y con- .nected. at the respective ends of a link .2]. lthe dimension. or parts are such that when operating. handle .26 .is in pushed down. position as in Eig. .l,. .the lever 21. is about .in horizontal, and .wl'lenv said operating handle .25 is in its upward :positionns in Fig. Z the position of lever .21 approaches towards vertical. If desired, .an air cylinder .28 .may bev included as shown, with piston rod 2.9 pivotally connected at 3B, and with the bottom of said cylinder, pivotally connected to the framework l8, at .31. .All parts corresponding to the above which are also in Fig. .4,

.are marked with the same numbers primed.

In Fig. .1 the end of the lever 12! which. extendstoward the handle-end of the carriage 1'5, .isv tubular or otherwise suitable for the telescopically associated .slidable lever extension member .32, normally maintained extended by means-of a .compressionspring .33 housed within said tubular end. The length of said lever .extension member .32, is such that whennsubstantially horizontal. and in extended position, the vfree end. oi said extensionmember shall he rearwardly beyond the vertical plane tangent .to the rear wheels of the carriage at handle-end of the carriage. and said length is-such that regardless of position of the lever 21, the .free end of said extension member 32,. is above the ground.

In the modified. embodiment shown. in .Eig.. 4, the moveable. extension. tor the lever it... is provided by the legs of across-shaped. member .34, pivotally mounted at dfi at. the. rearward. end of the lever 2.l... The length of. each. of .thelegs 45,

is such that when any of said. legs is positioned in alignment with the lever 21 to serve as. an

extension thereof, the. rearwardly extending. free end .oislloh -.erosss leg .shallcomply with therethat the cross-shamed member at is. permitted only clockwise rotation about axis 35, which means thattheparticular leg of. the. brass -shaped carriage body T;v mounted. thereon, atone .55 anemher whlchis ,nositioned .as an. extension or the lever 2|", is permitted downward movement, but not upward movement.

Another requirement as to dimensions, is that when the set up of parts is as shown in Fig. 1, then, when the carriage is brought so that its rear wheels contact the riser 38 leading to a step 39, the extension member 32 shall lie above said step and come in contact with said step when said extension member is moved downwardly upon upward movement of the operating handle 26. The embodiment shown in Fig. 4, has analogous dimensional requirement.

If desired, a spring loaded latch finger 40 may be provided, adapted to engage slide bar in notch 4|. dicated by corresponding numerals primed.

The manner of operation to bring these carriages up and down steps, will now be explained.

As to either of the embodiments illustrated, the

mechanism on the carriage may be in any position i shown in the drawings.

Referring to the embodiment shown in Figs. 1 and 2, when the carriage is to be brought up a flight of steps 42, it is backed up with rear wheels 20 against riser 38. as shown in Fig. 1, lever extension 32 will be slightly above the step 39. The operating handle 26 is now pulled upwardly along the slant line of the bar or bars 25, whereby lever 2| will be swung in a clockwise direction about its fulcrum 22. The levers extension member 32 will contact the step 39, and the carriage IE will be lifted until the said rear wheels 20 ride on the step 33,

whereupon the mechanism is in condition as, Now, with said wheels up position it held over step 39. This operation is repeated on each step until the carriage has been brought up the flight of stairs. The operator holds onto the carriage handle l6 while he manipulates the operating handle 26. Of course, to gain mechanical advantage, the position of the fulcrum 22 should be nearer the free tip of the extension member 32 in extended position, than said fulcrum is from the end of the lever at link 21. If the carriage with mechanism in condition as shown in Fig. 2, approaches the first riser 38, it is obvious that upon pushing operating handle 23 slantingly downward, the mechanism will be brought to the condition illustrated in Fig. 1, ready for manipulation to lift the carriage onto step 39.

To bring the carriage l5 downstairs, the mechanism is set up as shown in Fig. 2, where the operating handle 26 is in its upward position. Holding carriage handle I6 in one hand, and with. the other hand holding the operating handle 26, the carriage is pushed forward by pushing its handle I5, until the wheels I3 leave the step 46 whereupon the tip end of the levers extension member 32 contact the step 46. The operator holding back the automatic downward movement of the operating handle 28, will thereby control thelowering of the carriage I5 onto the next step 44. The carriage by its handle I 6 is then pushed forward on step 44' and the op- These components in Fig. 4, are in- If the set up of parts is Now the operation is repeated on each step downwardly.

Each time the mechanism is manipulated from the condition of Fig. 2 to that shown in Fig. 1, if an air cylinder 28 is included, there will be a retarding of counter-clockwise movement of the lever 2|. Such retarding should be regulated to be of such worth, that although it shall aid in the lowering of the carriage down i. the steps, it shall not unduly hamper lifting the carriage up the steps.

Referring to the embodiment shown in Figs. 4 and 5, when the carriage I5 is to be brought up a flight of stairs 42', it is backed up with its rear wheels 20' against the riser 38'. If the setup is in the condition shown in Fig. 4, the extension of lever 2|, which here is the leg 45 of the cross-shaped member 34, will lie above the step 39, substantially horizontally. The operating handle 26' is now pulled upwardly along the slant line of the bar or bars 25', whereby lever 2| will be swung in a clockwise direction about its fulcrum 22'. The levers extension member, meaning said leg 45, will contact the step 39' and the carriage l5 will be lifted until the said rear wheels 20' ride on the step 39', whereupon the mechanism is in the condition shown in Fig. 5. It is to be noted that the cross-member 34 is maintained against counter-clockwise rotation due to action of pawl 3! engaging the teeth of the ratchet 36.

Before the rear wheels 20' reach the riser 43', the operating handle 26' is pushed downwardly to raise the cross-member 34 so that the tip of its leg 46 shall contact said riser 43', and upon continued downward movement of the operating handle 23', the cross member 34 will be rotated clockwise, due to the frictional contact of the tip of said leg 46 with the riser 43'; such rotation being permitted by the ratchet and pawl. Leg .1 will now be horizontally above the step 44', a position akin to that shown in Fig. 4. This operation is repeated on each step until the carriage l5 has been brought up the flight of steps. If the carriage l5 with mechanism in the condition shown in Fig. 5, approaches the first riser 38', the required manipulation to bring the mechanism to the condition shown in Fig. 4. is obvious.

To bring the carriage I5 downstairs, the mechanism is set as in Fig. 5. No counter-clockwise movement of the cross-shaped member 34 being permitted by action of the pawl 31, the leg 45 serves as a rigid extension 01 the lever 2 and the mode of operation is the same as is given herein for the embodiment shown in Fig. 1.

If desired, the handle It may beomitted, and the carriage may be pushed for normal riding on a road when latch 40 is set to engage the notch 4|. Release of said latch engagement, permits operation of the mechanism if for slanting downward movement of the operating handle ing had to the following claims rather than to the specific description herein to indicate the scope of this invention.

I claim:

1. In a manually-operated, stair-travelling vehicle, having rear wheels carried rotatably on a frame, the combination of a lever pivotally mounted intermediate its ends on the frame; the axis of swing of said lever and the axis of rotation of said wheels being substantially parallel; said lever having a portion thereof extending towards the rear of the vehicle, a member moveably mounted on said lever portion and extending as a rearward extension of said lever portion; said member being above the plane of a stair when positioned substantially horizontal upon movement of the lever about its pivotal connection and means maintaining said member in fixed angular relation with said rearwardly extending lever portion while said lever portion is swung downwardly; the dimension of said member and the position of the pivotal connection of the lever being such that said member in normal rest position on the lever, extends rearwardly of the rear wheels when said member is substantially horizontal and downwardly beyond said wheels and above the ground when the rearward portion of said lever is positioned tilted downwardly rearwardly.

2. The combination as defined in claim 1, wherein the member on the rearward portion of the lever is of elongated form mounted for longitudinal sliding movement on said lever portion as an extension of said lever portion and resilient means carried on the lever acting to maintain said member in part rearwardly of said lever.

3. The combination as defined in claim 1, wherein the member on the rearward portion of the lever is the leg of a cross-shaped component; said cross-shaped component being pivotally mounted at the junction of its legs on the rear end of said lever; the axis of the pivotal connection of said component on the lever, being substantially parallel to the axis of rotation of the wheels.

l. The combination as defined in claim 1, including a bar moveably mounted on the vehicle and accessible at the rear of the vehicle and means connecting said bar and lever whereby the lever will be swung about its pivotal connection when the bar is manually moved on the vehicle.

5. The combination as defined in claim 1, wherein the lever includes a portion extending toward the front of the vehicle from the pivotal connection of the lever, and including a bar slidably mounted along the vehicle and a link connecting the forward ends of the lever and said bar whereby the lever will be swung about its pivotal connection when the bar is manually moved on the vehicle.

6. The combination as defined in claim 1, including means carried. on the vehicle, acting to retard swinging movement of the lever during upward movement of the rearward portion of the lever.

7. The combination as defined in claim 1, including means carried on the vehicle to limit the extent of downward movement of the rearward portion of the lever.

CHARLES BOLTSON.

REFERENCES CITED The following leferences are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,551,127 Whyel Aug. 25, 1925 1,654,188 Phillips Dec. 27, 1927 1,660,517 Milliken Feb. 28, 1928 1,885,112 Jankisz Nov. 1, 1932 1,959,810 Bodge May 22, 1934 2,418,665 Rizzuto Apr. 8, 1947 

